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  • SyFy
  • Mar 25, 2014
  • SyFy
  • Mar 25, 2014
Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge

Summary 10 aspiring artists compete for a $100,000 prize and a contract with Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. They are mentored by Creature Shop artists Peter Brooke and John Criswell and judged by Brian Henson, chairman of the Jim Henson Company and Jim Henson’s son; creature designers Beth Hathaway (Jurassic Park, The Walking Dead, and Edward Sciss...

  • SyFy
  • Mar 25, 2014
  • SyFy
  • Mar 25, 2014
Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge
Season 1
Season Premiere: Mar 25, 2014
Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 8 Critic Reviews
69
User Score Generally Favorable Based on 6 User Ratings
7.0
My Score
Hover and click to give a rating Saved

Where to Watch

Summary 10 aspiring artists compete for a $100,000 prize and a contract with Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. They are mentored by Creature Shop artists Peter Brooke and John Criswell and judged by Brian Henson, chairman of the Jim Henson Company and Jim Henson’s son; creature designers Beth Hathaway (Jurassic Park, The Walking Dead, and Edward Sciss...

Where to Watch

Season Episodes

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Episode 1 • Mar 25, 2014 • 44 m
What Lies Beneath
Brian Henson welcomes 10 talented creature designers to Jim Henson Studios for their first Creature Brief: design and build an original underwater creature for a screen test on the Henson Soundstage.
Episode 2 • Apr 1, 2014 • 44 m
Return of the Skeksis
The creature designers tackle sculpting, molding, and mechanizations as the Henson classic The Dark Crystal inspires re-imagined Skeksis who return to the castle for a screen test with the original Dark Crystal.
Episode 3 • Apr 8, 2014 • 44 m
Assembly Inspired
The creature designers breathe life into unconventional materials from a junkyard to create a believable half scrap, half fantasy creature trapped inside a hanging cage.
Episode 4 • Apr 15, 2014 • 44 m
Heads Up!
Humor is the key to this week's Creature Brief as mounted creature heads in an enchanted trophy room return to life under the spell of a wizard, played by Scrubs' Donald Faison.
Episode 5 • Apr 22, 2014 • 44 m
Life in Motion
An appearance by Lady Gaga's unicorn inspires the creature designers to create a larger-than-life creature with realistic movement, performed on a black light soundstage.
Episode 6 • Apr 29, 2014 • 44 m
Swamp Things
The Henson Soundstage is transformed into a mystical swamp for a screen test revealing camouflaged creatures hiding in plain sight. Face Off's Neville Page guest judges.
Episode 7 • May 6, 2014 • 44 m
Alien Transformation
Gigi brings Farscape co-star Rygel into the workshop as inspiration for the creature designers to build original alien species attending an intergalactic press conference. Men in Black director Barry Sonnenfeld guest judges.
Episode 8 • May 6, 2014 • 44 m
Tavern at the Crossroads

Top Cast

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 8 Critic Reviews
69
50% Positive
4 Reviews
50% Mixed
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 8 Critic Reviews
69
50% Positive
4 Reviews
50% Mixed
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
91
Mar 24, 2014
We ultimately get to spend time with Henson's judges hashing it out. That brings insight into what makes things work, into creature logic, proportions, movement, performance facilitation, and letting the creation "emote through its environment." We don't just watch art being made, we come to understand the process.
By Diane Werts FULL REVIEW
80
Mar 25, 2014
What Creature Shop may lack in originality it makes up for in creative energy, with the contestants further challenged in mentoring sessions by being made to focus on having the full-body costumes be fully functional for the skilled Henson puppeteers within.
By Matt Roush FULL REVIEW
75
Mar 25, 2014
Creature Shop Challenge is about doing the most in the least amount of time, and while there’s some impressive work on display in the premiere, the impulse to keep watching comes from the sense that the best, most stunning creatures are yet to come.
By Erik Adams FULL REVIEW
60
Mar 25, 2014
Though Creature Shop's competition approach might be tiresomely formulaic (all stemming from the Project Runway idea tree), the bottom line is it's still a series that promotes creativity.
By Allison Keene FULL REVIEW
60
Mar 25, 2014
Because the contestants are also paired into teams, we get the sometime fractious reality-show dynamics of forced alliances. Based on this show, however, there don’t seem to be many truly obnoxious people whose dream is to design cool monsters.
By David Hinckley FULL REVIEW
58
Mar 25, 2014
Creature Shop Challenge is inviting enough to merit another look. Not for its pro forma adherence to the “reality competition” handbook but for whatever creative hoops await its very eager group of contestants.
By Ed Bark FULL REVIEW
50
Mar 21, 2014
In this digital age, it’s nice to see the Muppet-maker still hiring, but there’s simply nothing special enough about this Challenge to warrant another show the next time there’s an opening; better instead to go through plain old human-resource channels.
By Brian Lowry FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

 View All
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 6 User Ratings
7.0
67% Positive
4 Ratings
33% Mixed
2 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings

User Reviews

 View All
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 6 User Ratings
7.0
67% Positive
4 Ratings
33% Mixed
2 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings

There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.

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